Why You Should Write a Blog If You’re a Data Scientist

Writing a blog about your data science project can be the important practice you can cultivate in your data science career.

Very often aspiring data scientists, or professionals starting out in their careers tend to think that their project is complete the moment they upload their final code onto GitHub or submit the project.

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This, however, is a terrible misconception. If you stop at this stage, you’re not only letting go of the chance to get feedback on your projects, but also losing out on the chance to share it with a wider audience and getting good at communicating your work.

An Extra Step with Extra Benefits

I concede that writing a blog is not part of the “general” data science pipeline. But, many data scientists will agree that the “general” data science path to achieving anything is really a myth. This field is novel and fast-evolving. Any path you can take in this field will likely be less travelled. Which is not to say, ineffective.

Benefits of Writing a Blog

Writing a blog about your data science project or work can be good for at least three reasons: to practice communicating your work, land new opportunities, gain critical feedback.

Practicing Communication

Whether you like it or not, the measure of your work depends largely on how you are able to communicate its benefits to parties that may be interested. If you cannot make these people care for your work, then it is bound to have less impact. Writing a blog helps you to practice communication while putting your work out. If you stick to this practice, you’re bound to be better at communication, while gaining invaluably from this habit in the long run.

Landing New Opportunities

If you think your coding ability alone will open doors for you, I hate to burst your bubble. There are terrible coders, who are successful data scientists and great coders, who are terrible data scientists. You could be good at both, but definitely not without writing about your work.

How often have you found a code repository on GitHub by just looking for good code? Not very often, I can tell. That’s because most people find good code after reading a good article about good code – a good article that told them why they should check out a code repository or what value it has to offer. Writing a blog about your data science project can land you new opportunities by throwing light on your work – by taking people from the “talk” of your article to the “walk” of your code.

Gaining Feedback

The internet is a great medium to share your work and get critical insights on what you can improve. I urge you to use it. If you’re too afraid to face negative feedback, don’t be! You can always ignore it.

Data science is an exciting field to be in. It is dynamic and continuously evolving. People are always innovating and responding to one and other – helping each other improve and improving in the process. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to grow by sitting out of this process. Instead, engage in it by contributing with your writing.

Writing for the Long-Run

Writing is probably not an activity with short-term benefits. But in the long run, it is guaranteed to make you a better data scientist.

Just the intention to write about your work, will make you pay more attention to what you’re doing. And every feedback you will get after reaching out will improve your next project.

It’s All About Communication!

Remember, data science is about communicating your work with a varied audience. It is about collectively creating a better world with clear insights from data. The insights can hardly be clear, however, if you don’t learn how to effectively communicate it.

Writing about your data science projects, will help you tell stories – stories that people find compelling. It is an opportunity for you to turn the spotlight to where you’re standing.

Organizations don’t open doors for data scientists who are in hiding. They open doors for data scientists, who show the willingness to put themselves out in the public, help others learn and grow in the process. So, the next time you finish uploading your code onto GitHub or submit an assignment, don’t stop working. Write a blog about what you did and start connecting!